Between Anarchy and Society: Trusteeship and the Obligations of Power

Hardcover | December 17, 2003

The international administration of troubled states - whether in Bosnia, Kosovo, or East Timor - has seen a return to the principle of trusteeship; that is when some form of international supervision is required in a particular territory in order both to maintain order and to foster the normsand practices of fair self-government. This innovative study rescues the normative discourse of trusteeship from the obscurity into which it has fallen since decolonization. It traces the development of trusteeship from its emergence out of debates concerning the misrule of the East India Company;its internationalization in imperial Africa; its institutionalization in the League of Nations mandates system, and, then, in the United Nations trusteeship system; and the destruction of its legitimacy by the ideas of self-determination and human equality.No other book brings this rich historical experience to bear on the dilemmas posed by the resurrection of trusteeship after the end of the Cold War. It is with a view to contemporary world problems that this book explores the obligations that attach to preponderant power and the limits that shouldbe observed in exercising that power for the sake of global good. The book concludes by arguing that trusteeship remains fundamentally at odds with the ideas of human dignity and equality.

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The international administration of troubled states - whether in Bosnia, Kosovo, or East Timor - has seen a return to the principle of trusteeship; that is when some form of international supervision is required in a particular territory in order both to maintain order and to foster the normsand practices of fair self-government. This...

William Bain is a Lecturer in International Politics, University of Glasgow.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction2. The Obligations of Power3. The Internationalization of Trusteeship4. Trusteeship as an Institution of International Society5. The Destruction of the Legitimacy of Trusteeship6. The New Paternalism7. Trusteeship, International Society, and the Limit of ObligationBibliographyIndex

Editorial Reviews

`Bain's short but insightful monograph contrasts the idea of trusteeship with liberty, both of individuals and of communities. This sets his work apart at the very outset.. Advocates of aggressive peace-building campaigns in various post-civil war contexts... would do well to read Bain'sbook.'Anthony F. Lang, Jr ., Ethics and International Affairs